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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Musician »

Permalink Locrian Surf?!

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Two years ago, I started playing guitar again after a 40 year break (I'm 68). My goal was to get back to surf and related guitar sounds. Took lessons and learned some music theory I should have learned the first twenty years I played.

Anyway, I had no idea what Locrian Mode was until I stumbled onto this video of 5 musicians writing short pieces in Locrian. The whole video is excellent, but the initial piece by Samurai Guitarist is a surf tune.

Check it out and tell me what you think.

I recorded a quick and dirty attempt at a m7b5 based surf song a while back, with mixed results. I simply hammered on the vii with quick forays to the vi and the I to make it interesting. Plus a bunch of noodling.

The challenge for us, though, is to come up with a compelling and pleasant locrian melody with a surfy feel. I'm going to jump back onto this project and see what I can come up with.

As for that video, I like Nahre's composition the best.

I like it. I haven’t done a lot with modes, but I occasionally use super locrian to get an outside sound in a Blues. Basically, play a melodic minor from the 7th degree over blues changes. For example, play notes from a Bb melodic minor over the I chord of a Blues in A. It sounds very strange, but it ends up making sense, and if you want to bring it back to sounding inside the changes, just pivot a flat fifth and use notes selected from an E melodic minor.

But this locrian surf tune is really powerful. It sounds like the son of the Munster’s theme, and I mean that in a complimentary way. It’s edgy, but it resolves nicely and is musically satisfying.

Another modal tune that I have loved since it was released is the Classics IV’s Stormy, which is in E dorian. Since the first time I heard it, this song really grabbed me.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

In Byzantine music, their 4th mode (οίκος δ)is Locrian. I found an example even with a raised leading tone. And they’ve been singing that in churches for a thousand years or more. They mask the locrianness with pedal points (drones) that give the impression of a less dissonant tonality. This is the opposite of what Ben Levin does with his f# locrian drone. They also ‘soften’ the intonation altering the pitches somewhat. Personally, I don’t like the sound at all but some people do.

Almost forgot: Björk’s tune Army Of Me is locrian. That driving bass ostinato is purely locrian and the melody manages the nasty mode by harping on only a few notes. It avoids any i m7b5 by staying strictly non-harmonic.

No Doubt’s catchy tune Hella Good is quasilocrian with a bass riff that uses a b2, M3, #4, b7. Weird.

Squink Out!

Last edited: May 23, 2022 17:59:25

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